In an event that has meaning on both ends, Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, has launched his sixth annual "Holiday Cards for Troops" program.

"The cool thing," McNerney said, "is that we get positive feedback from both sides - from the kids who write the cards and feel connected and from the service men who receive them."

Last year, McNerney's office collected more than 9,000 cards from community members with personal messages of gratitude. The cards are distributed to men and women in the military both at home and serving overseas.

When he started the program in 2007, some of the cards were sent to Iraq where that war was being waged. Some of them are still delivered to U.S. military personnel serving in the ongoing Afghanistan conflict.

McNerney personally delivers some of them to the Nation's Medical Center, formerly known as Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, in Bethesda, Md.

"Sometimes it gets emotional for me," McNerney said. "I get to meet some of the troops in their rooms and hear their stories. They love to tell their stories. It's rewarding on a lot of levels. That's why I do it."

The congressman said that he also enjoys going into classrooms where teachers have used the holiday cards as a student project.

"I ask them how many know someone serving in the military," McNerney said of his San Joaquin County school visits. "Sometimes one-third of the classroom's hands go up."

McNerney's office announced that the overseas cards will be sent in packages organized by East Bay Blue Star Moms, Pleasanton Military Families, Support Our Troops of Lodi, American Red Cross, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Sommerset Veterans Club.

Cards also will be sent to Bay Area VA hospitals.

"Some of these soldiers have been in rehab a long time. They may have lost a leg or suffered a head injury," McNerney said. "Sometimes they get excited to receive these and look forward to reading them."

McNerney's office also is encouraging participation Saturday in a Red Cross-sponsored "Holiday Mail for Heroes" event at Weberstown Mall.